This article reviews the 2014 TED talk show by Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields on minimalism practice relation to happiness. The first commendable issue was the strong introduction by Ryan and hand gesture incorporation at 0:10 in distinguishing the speakers. Another positive notable issue is the incorporation of their own life stories into the speech delivery, helping the listener relate with the speaker. This is evident at 8:12 when Ryan says “After twelve hours and a few pizza deliveries, we were done..” and ” I invited him for lunch as any best friend would do” at 7:15. The clarity of the speakers in delivery is successfully implemented, especially by Ryan. The incorporation of actions relating to the speakers current message at 11:02, 10:40 and 6:48 plays a significant part in engaging the listener in staying attentive. The use of jokes within the speech acts as a mood livener, evident at 12:58 as Josh says “a blog called the minimalists.com”, and the audience bursts into laughter.
There are few notable speech improvement areas by Ryan and Joshua. The constant hand movement by Ryan, most visible at 8:24 is a possible distractor to the audience, moving hands twice or thrice is acceptable, but pacing both your hands every now and then can make the speaker seem anxious. Joshua’s phone call and Ryan’s response “You’re joking right now, right? Dude we’re trying to give a talk.” at 1:07 places the audience back in grasp of the message, though Ryan apologizes the damage is already done. The constant movement of cardboard boxes by Joshua at 3:28, 4:11 and 10:15 being but a few instances can make the message desired to fail on reaching home. The use of a rhetorical question by Joshua as he concludes aids in capturing the listeners’ attention and restating the speech’s main point.